An Exploratory Case-Control Study on the Associations of Bacterially-Derived Vitamin K Forms with the Intestinal Microbiome and Obesity-Related Osteoarthritis

Liu M, Matuszek G, Azcarate-Peril MA, et al. · Current Developments in Nutrition

The only human study to measure menaquinones themselves against an osteoarthritis endpoint, and it found nothing: faecal menaquinone clusters did not differ between participants with and without osteoarthritis (P=0.707), nor did microbial diversity, though the relative abundance of particular bacterial taxa varied across clusters.

Population

52 obese Johnston County Osteoarthritis Study participants with hand and knee osteoarthritis and 42 age- and sex-matched obese participants without it

Intervention

Faecal menaquinone concentrations and microbial composition measured; no supplement given

Comparator

Obese participants without osteoarthritis

Limitations

94 participants, described by its authors as exploratory; faecal menaquinones reflect gut bacterial synthesis, whose relationship to absorbed vitamin K status is uncertain; obese participants only.